SELECTION. l6l 



dance of sap has been fatal. Food, continuous 

 and compulsory, which it could not assimilate or 

 digest, has induced a sickly surfeit; and the 

 wretched Rose is stupefied, and looks so, with a 

 determination of blood to the head. Granting a 

 success, which I have never seen but once (in a 

 glorious tree of the old Hybrid China Fiilgcns), 

 the process of fruition would be laborious. Only 

 from a balloon, a balcony, a bedroom window, 

 could we supervise and fully appreciate such sub- 

 limities ! Are we then to discard entirely those 

 standard trees described to us in the catalogue 

 as "extra tall"? Is Briareus the giant to be 

 again buried beneath Mount T^tna — /. e. the rub- 

 bish heap ? Certainly not. He may do us good 

 service, kindly treated, and be made to look most 

 imposing in our gardens holding a fair bouquet of 

 Roses in each of his hundred hands. I mean 

 that the vigorous Briers, from 6 to 8 feet in height, 

 may be converted into 



Weeping Rose Trees, 



which, properly trained, are very beautiful. Buds 

 of the Ayrshire and Evergreen Roses, of Amadis 

 and Gracilis, Boursaults, or of Blairii 2, Hybrid 

 China, should be inserted, in three or four laterals, 



